Church St Demetrius Kanabus - "Balat to Ayvansaray"

8:05 π.μ. Church. St. Demetriu , english , turkish 0 Comments

"We see on the right another of the churches mentioned by Tryphon, that of St. Demetrius Kanabu. Although the present church dates only to 1730 at the earliest, its origins go back to Byzantine times, for a church of that name is known to have existed on this site as early as 1334. It is suggested that the church may have been founded by the family of Nicholas Kanabu, who became emperor for a few days in April 1204, in the brief interval between the deposition of the co-emperors Alexius IV and Isaac II and the later usurpation by Alexius V. St. Demetrius served as the Patriarchal church from 1597 until 1601, when the Patriarchate moved to its present site."

Hilary SUMNER-BOYD and John FREELY, Strolling through Istanbul, London, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2010 [1972], p. 308.